Freddie Owens

Assistant Coach

Freddie Owens is in his fourth season as an assistant men’s basketball coach at the College of the Holy Cross. Owens helps head up the Crusaders' defensive schemes and is involved in all aspects of recruiting, on-court player development, opponent scouting and scheduling.

Last season, Owens assisted in guiding Holy Cross to the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament, while ranking second in the conference in scoring defense (67.7 points per game), field goal percentage defense (43.1 percent) and blocked shots (3.4 blocks per game). Previously in 2016-2017, he helped the Crusaders lead the Patriot League in scoring defense (62.1 points per game), steals (9.4 steals per game), turnover margin (+4.9 turnovers per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.23-to-1).

During the 2015-2016 campaign, Owens helped the Crusaders to their first NCAA Tournament victory since 1953 and their first Patriot League Tournament title since 2007. Holy Cross also won all four of its Patriot League Tournament games on the road, becoming the first team in conference history to accomplish that feat.

Prior to his time at Holy Cross, Owens served as an assistant coach at Utah Valley (2014-2015), Oregon State (2013-2014) and Montana (2009-2013). During the 2013-2014 campaign at Oregon State, he helped the Beavers to a postseason appearance in the College Basketball Invitational.

Owens previously served as an assistant coach at Montana for four seasons and helped the Grizzlies to three NCAA tournament appearances, back-to-back Big Sky regular season and tournament titles in 2012 and 2013 and four straight 20-win seasons. He was also a graduate assistant at Iowa State (2008-2009) and as an assistant coach at Adams State College (2007-2008), where he helped lead the Grizzlies to a Top 10 regional ranking and a school record for wins.

Owens began his coaching career after playing professional basketball in Latvia and Estonia. As an undergraduate, he was a two-year starter and four-year letterwinner at the University of Wisconsin. Owens was a co-captain for the Badgers’ 2003-2004 team that won the Big Ten Tournament title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. During his sophomore and junior years, Wisconsin won back-to-back Big Ten regular season titles and advanced to the NCAA Tournament twice. As a junior in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, Owens made a game-winning three-pointer against Tulsa at the buzzer to send the Badgers to the Sweet 16.

In 2016, Owens founded the Milwaukee Coaches Association, which consists of over 500 members and hosts annual coaching clinics in his hometown of Milwaukee, Wis. The purpose of the MCA is to serve as a platform for coaches to come together and exchange ideas as it relates to becoming better coaches and mentors to their student-athletes. Each year the MCA clinic presents collegiate coaches from all over the country as guest speakers.

Owens graduated from Milwaukee Washington High School in 2000, then went on to earn his bachelor’s degree in life sciences and communications from Wisconsin in 2005 and his master’s degree in higher education from Iowa State in 2011. He and his wife, Carmen, were married in 2010 and reside in Worcester.